We had a good week, staying warm inside by the pellet stove, while the temps outside stayed well below freezing.  Here's a bit of the fun and learning we've been up to:

Smiley practiced letters and learned the letter X.  One page he drew is a treasure mark where X marks the treasure.  Another page he did shows a railroad crossing sign.

Caleb practiced writing sentences and paragraphs, illustrated a made-up rhyme, and made some lists about the vowels A and E, showing the different sounds they make.

The kids continued to work in their continent coloring books.  Caleb can identify the different continents on a world map, and also learned the four oceans.  The kids have together been reading animal-themed nature stories and we've been talking about different animal habitats.  One afternoon, while working with sand, they created different animal homes, like a hole in the ground for a mole, a tree stump for insects, a bush for birds, etc.

Smiley practiced counting and began working with colored math blocks to lead into learning addition.  He also spends time sorting things like marbles, rocks, or Bendaroos and we use them for exercises in comparing order, size, and similarities.

Caleb's began subtraction of multiple digit numbers.  He learned how to "check" subtraction answers by adding.

We finished reading the Tale of Solomon Owl and started The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle.  The kids are really enjoying listening to the fun tales of talking animals!  We also read Winter poems, a Korean folktale, the Adventures of Tin Tin, and Caleb practiced reading aloud.  He is reading from the I Can Read series of books we find at the library.  The boys also worked on art projects at their weekly class (a rainbow coloring book for Smiley, and knitting for Caleb), colored pictures at home, practiced math skills while playing card games, board games, and a made-up store game, Caleb began learning to play the wooden flute, and lots more!